Justice arrives for Groveland Four, but 70 years too late

Cotter’s Corner

By Daniel A. Cotter

Daniel A. Cotter is a partner at Latimer LeVay Fyock LLC and author of the upcoming book “The Chief Justices” (Twelve Tables Press). The views expressed here are solely those of the author. He can be reached at dcotter@llflegal.com.

Posted February 22, 2019 3:44 PM

Seventy years ago, in Groveland, Fla., a young married woman, Norma Padgett, accused four black men of raping her. Those four men were blamed for the alleged crime, and two of them were shot to death. The other two were convicted of the crime. In a book that I have written about, “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America,” by Gilbert King, the author tells the harrowing story of this huge miscarriage of justice. Seventy years later, there is some justice for the …

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